Alternate keyboard settings within EQ?

[banchicawawo]

So I just returned back to EQ and purchased the existing Underfoot client available on Steam. I noticed a few cool things when I log in, such as the client now recognizes extra keybindings that EQ never did before, like the mouse4 and mouse5 keys (which I use regularly).

However, I noticed some odd grammar on my character (no, I'm not referring to issues with common tongue!) I can't type certain characters on my keyboard, such as an apostrophe (') or plus sign (+).

It's as if these keys don't work at all. It happens with mostly special characters, but I think somehow EQ is stuck on some kind of chinese keyboard (at least according to some of the googling I've done). It's odd because I can type completely normally in Notepad or MS Word, even while I'm in game, so it's not a system setting, just some kind of EQ setting.

Has anyone seen anything like this before? Any ideas?

[banchicawawo]

I wanted to add that I'm running Win 7 HP x64. I've tried different fonts within EQ with no luck, and I've even tried changing fonts from within EQ to resolve it. I've checked my keyboard settings in control panel, but everything is set to the standard US keybord.

Any ideas? Anyone?

[Derision]

I happened to see someone mention this on the P99 forums earlier:

http://www.project1999.org/forums/showthread.php?t=4553

[banchicawawo]

This was really driving me nutty. I even tried loading up multiple clients (Titanium, SoF, SoD, UF) while troubleshooting. That link was great. Thanks again.

[banchicawawo]

For anyone else who might be experiencing this issue, the above fix is only temporary on Win 7. The devices are automatically installed at reboot. I have been working on a number of fixes, but none of them are working for me permanently. I'll post when I have a full solution.

[banchicawawo]

So, I've finally resolved the issue where certain keystrokes, mainly special symbols, weren't working in EQ Emu.

So what exactly was the issue? The following keyboard drivers appear to block several keys, including colon and backslash in DirectX 10 and other applications:
Microsoft eHome Remote Control Keyboard keys
Microsoft eHome MCIR Keyboard
Microsoft eHome MCIR 109 Keyboard
HID Keyboard Device

The first 3 are found under keyboards in Device Manager. The 4th is found under Human Interface Devices in Device Manager.

Microsoft, in their infinite wisdom, decided that you shouldn't be able to disable any of these "necessary" devices as they are part of Media Center. The temporary solution is to uninstall them, but they are automatically installed at reboot, but I don't want to uninstall these devices after every single reboot, so that's no good.

The best solution if you are on Win 7 Pro or Ultimate is to uninstall the devices, prevent the devices from being re-installed using the method below (gpedit.msc for those who ware familiar), and then when your machine boots back up, tell Windows to NEVER install drivers for this device again.

* Go to Start–>Search type in gpedit.msc
* Computer Configuration->Administrative Templates->System->Device Installation.
* Click on the subfolder Device Installation on the left and on the right side you will see the possible restrictions.
* Right Click on Prevent Installation of Devices not described by other policy settings and edit this option, set it on ENABLED.
Reboot Windows.
* If you are prompted to install drivers for the device, select "Never for this device"
* Open gpedit.msc again and revert the change so you will be able to install drivers for other devices in the future.

The biggest problem with this resolution is that in order to use the Group Policy console, you need to be on Windows 7 Professional/Ultimate (or Vista Busn/Ultimate). If you have that, then good, this solution should work for you.

I have Windows 7 Home Premium, and although I have MSDN rights to upgrade to Pro/Ultimate, I wanted to first see if I could resolve this on Home Premium.

Here's my fix:
Device Manager -> Human Interface Devices -> Microsoft eHome Infrared Tranceiver [right click]
-update driver software
-browse my computer for driver software
-let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer
-untick Show compatible hardware
-select HID-compliant consumer control device, Next
Device Manager -> Human Interface Devices -> "HID-compliant consumer control device" -> Disable

Repeat this for each of the keyboard devices as well. By installing a basic HID driver for each device, Microsoft doesn't recognize it as a "necessary" device, and now you have the option to disable it.

In my case, I used this trick for the eHome Infrared Transceiver and found another way to completely uninstall the eHome keyboards. If you are interested, here is what I did to fix this:

First, you'll need to turn off System Restore. We are going to be replacing some system drivers, and Windows is smart enough to detect and replace them with the originals. This drove me nuts as my changes weren't persistent until the lightbulb went on in my head, and I disabled System Restore. To disable this, right click on Computer and go to Properties, then click on Advanced System Properties. From there, go to the System Protection tab and turn off system restore. You'll also want to select the option to delete anything currently in the System Restore Cache. I had to reboot twice before the following procedures would work.

Go to C:\windows\system32\drivers
There are 2 files called kbdclass.sys and kbdhid.sys. The kbdhid.sys is used in the eHome keyboard devices. You need to make a copy of kbdclass.sys. Then you'll need to delete kbdhid.sys; in order to do this, you need to take ownership over the file and then give yourself full control of it so you can delete it. Once it's deleted, take your file called "kbdclass.sys - Copy" and rename it to kbdhid.sys. We are trying to trick Windows into using the wrong driver for the device. Now you'll want to uninstall the eHome keyboards, and reboot.

You may want to reboot twice. I noticed several times during my troubleshooting that after the first reboot, everything looked fine but after the second reboot, the devices would show back up.

One of two things should happen. You should notice the devices are uninstalled completely (my case), or you'll notice you have standard keyboards in place of the eHome keyboards.

As another workaround, you may be able to create a script using DevCon (free support tools from Microsoft) to automatically uninstall the devices at startup.

I tried a combination of methods to get this work. You may find the following links useful if my solution doesn't work: your mileage may vary.
http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/TouchSm...Q505/m-p/30058
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/...c-7597ed52b260
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/fallo...=918428&page=0
http://social.answers.microsoft.com/...9-d50aa0f8f0bf
http://www.addictivetips.com/windows...windows-vista/
http://www.seasonsecurity.com/how-ca...eyboard-101511 (this one is the real bread and butter)
http://forums.station.sony.com/eq/po...opic_id=143320